Twitter rolls out new focus on local news

Twitter has launched a new “Local Trends” filter lets member see what others are talking about in their local city, state or country.

As Twitter spokeswoman Jenna Sampson explained on the San Francisco company’s blog, Twitter members can use the Local Trends filter to see what’s making news in their area instead of just what’s hot around the world.

“The big events that come up around the world will always become a global conversation, but what about the big events that only happen in your world that only matter to those around you?” Sampson write. “Or the slight differences in the way Californians perceive an event, like Obama’s election victory, versus those São Paulo, Brazil?

“Local Trends will allow you to learn more about the nuances in our world and discover even more relevant topics that might matter to you,” she wrote.

Not every local place has a filter, but Twitter is working on that. For starters, the countries available are the United States, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, United Kingdom.

London’s The Independent newspaper also suggested a Web site, Trendsmap.com, that displays top trending Twitter topics by geographic areas on a Google map.

Of course on Wednesday morning, the top trending topic in San Francisco and the rest of the world was the same – Apple’s new iPad tablet computer.

As Apple CEO Steve Jobs was wrapping up his presentation at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, there were nearly 2,000 tweets a minute about the iPad.

The tweet-o-sphere was filled with comments on everything from the device’s size, price and capabilities to jokes on how the name Apple picked sounded like a feminine hygiene product.

“#itampon” became the top trending topic in the early afternoon in San Francisco, although Oracle’s purchase of Sun Microsystems was third. And in Washington D.C., people were starting to tweet about President Obama’s State of the Union address.